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Have a little faith, a little later

Leesha Mckenny

THE appeal of eternity is not as strong as it used to be. A British study shows that increased life expectancy is to blame for older, smaller congregations, as more people decide that heaven - and religion - can wait.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of St Andrews used the economic principle of cost-benefit analysis to examine the effect of life expectancy on the adoption of faith.

The benefits of a religion - such as the probability of accessing the afterlife - were weighed up against other factors, such as the time spent on religious activities.

The study, published in the International Journal of Social Economics, suggested that in countries where life expectancy was higher, people were less concerned about life after death and saw less need to make the early investment in religion.

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''Higher life expectancy discounts expected benefits in the afterlife and is therefore likely to lead to postponement of religiosity, without necessarily jeopardising benefits in the afterlife,'' a co-author, a UEA economist, Elissaios Papyrakis, said.

Dr Papyrakis suggested religious organisations should be prepared to accept and attract a ''greying church'', skewed towards an older demographic. But he added that an emphasis on the life-long benefits of faith - such as expanding a person's social circle, communal activities, spiritual fulfilment, support and guidance - was key to attracting larger congregations of all ages.

The National Church Life Survey, conducted in Australia in every census year, found the national average age of adult Christian church attenders was 53.4 years in 2006 compared with the average national age of 37.9 years in 2009.

However, Ruth Powell, the survey's research director, said the the decline in church attendance is probably better explained by ''major generational changes that have happened over the last few decades''.